Thick fog has erased Cape Town this morning, and my mind drifts back to our recent adventures- may I begin with the soundtrack: O! Fortuna!- with the full chorus and kettle drums- some of what Pop and I just experienced was so amazing that a person thinks- is this some kind of setup?
We wanted to explore the shore and see what we could of the fabled wildlife. Addo Elephant Park is top on the list, with a herd of some 500 wild elephants that roam around a preserved parcel of land along with lions and jackals and all the little jumpy critters you see on TV. The park is huge, and they're trying to make a corridor to the sea (good luck, there's an interstate in the way). Most visitors drive themselves in an area about 400 square kilometers, the vast majority is 4x4 territory.
We start driving around and immediately come upon a young bull, female, and calf, relatively close, crossing the road. Cool! We watch them for a while, and Pop is content already as we move on. We see other creatures- turtles, warthogs with their mohawk hackles, a distant ostrich, some jackals- just cruising along, and then we come upon a few cars stopped on the road, two side by side, even, and a group of elephants somewhat close. Pop goes around the cars and stops 15' beyond. From there we watch. Grazing, snuffling, scooching around each other is a group of perhaps 20, including a huge bull and lots of babies, maybe 80' from us. Delighted, I use Pop's good camera also for its telephoto to see what I cannot approach. After ten minutes or so have passed, the elephants move towards us, slowly at first, grazing still, their noodle-noses picking among the acacia branches.
But then the bull starts moving a little more quickly, walking down the hill towards us in our tiny car. "oh boy" says pop in a nervous tone. Ambling along, the bull comes about three feet from me as the telephoto lense suddenly becomes absurd, his eye appraises my tiny face and I squeak a tiny greeting.
Mama and babies follow, passing us now, more than we had seen- quickly I count about 30 adult elephants as they shamble off into the scrub, with about eight little ones. Pop and I just sat there in shock. and then started texting excitedly with Mam and Jason.
That was day three. Four was even more awesome, and then five was off the bleeping hook. Meanwhile there are candlelight vigils all over the globe to send messages to the men in charge to create a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to combat climate change, and what happens? the US, once again! throws a wrench in the negotiations. oh, we'll just buy our way into the planet's good graces, hm? that's the answer! The collateral damage to the planet and her people cannot be paid for in worthless greenback, you greedy cretins. I am sick about the whole situation, disgusted by our administration's proposal, horrified to know that my country is leading the way to HELL. when, and how, can we overthrow this plutocracy? my fingers curl and my jaw clenches as I sit aboard this lovely schoolship, house of independant thinking and education about the sea, forum of personal growth and expanded vision through travel- and I sit in the harbor of a country that has experienced such horrible inequity, attempted to bring it to rights and somewhat succeeded. I'm reading Country of My Skull right now, written by a journalist who covered the whole Truth and Reconciliation process- intense doesn't begin to describe it. Twisted. highly recommended to anyone with an abiding interest in cultural psychology.
this little dude, by the way, is the rare african dung beetle. he rolls up a little roll of dung and pushes it with his hind legs as a gift for his mate. they copulate while feeding on the roll, and then lay the eggs in it. sexy, hm? (CAUTION: to next part is not suitable for minors) I remember when I was researching Japan last year, I ran into an odd fetish- word has it that there is a high-end club in Tokyo in which (hopefully just a part of) the evening's entertainment and meal is provided by a young lady who has been eating nothing but bananas for a week. She relieves herself on glass plate and it is passed around to the eager patrons. even if this isn't true, I remain fascinated by how the human species simultaneously could create this 20 oz computer I am typing on and fetishize the consumption of our own excrement. The dung beetle metabolizes the partially digested plant material, retuning the nutrients to the soil while creating more of its kind. What is the Japanese businessman doing?
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